April narrowed her eyes as she looked down, the plane already starting its descent. Her glasses reflected the sun that entered through the windows as she discerned the silhouette of Corsica. Smiling, she fumbled in her purse, trying to take a photo of the island before the plane moved again; the island was truly beautiful and she didn’t have problems imagining why the Greeks had decided to name it “Kallisté” (The most beautiful) when they had been there centuries ago. The green color that covered the entire island was a magnficient shade of emmerald, the trees that grew on the fertile land shining with the morning sun.
The plane trembled and the brunette lost her opportunity to take the picture so she pursed her lips disappointed with herself the views had been truly amazing and it could have been a perfect opportunity to show her mother why she was doing this.
“Apart from the obvious reasons” She mused as she put her phone in her purse once again, trying to not ruin her own good mood with those thoughts.
The plane trembled once again as it approached land and April could see the forest that surrounded Bastia, the city in which she was going to land, at the northern part of the island. The forest that circled the city had the same shade of green that she had discerned moments before and she smiled to herself while trying to not succumb to the dizziness that the plane had been giving her since they had took off on Paris a few hours earlier.
But, obviously, her poker face wasn’t as good as she thought because her travel companion, an old woman who had presented herself as Mrs.Lucas, smiled at her before offering her handkerchief.
“Here darling, and don’t worry, you can keep it”
April smiled at the older woman as she tried to breathe slowly, just as her sister had taught her when they were little, her voice traveling through time as Mrs. Lucas looked at her expectantly, a bland expression in herwrinkled face.
C’mon Aps, in and out, that’s it, imagine that you are a bird, birds doesn’t have problems when they fly, they don’t fear it! Just like that, in and out… in and out…
The brunette chuckled softly as she remembered how her sister had kept her occupied when both of their parents had been worried about their next step; being the daughter of two famous politicians was bad enough but the need to travel every few weeks before both of them or only one of them needed to give a rally had been exhausting. Even now she always felt the dread in the pit of her stomach when she saw a plane.
“Are you ok sweetie? You still look a little bit pale” Commented Mrs. Lucas and April jumped a little as she heard the thick accent of the woman, returning her to the present time.
“Yes” She said as she nodded frenetically, the plane already touching the asphalt and even if she still wasn’t outside she felt better knowing that they were finally touching land. “Sorry, old memories, but thank you for the handkerchief” Added as she folded it.
“No problem sweetheart, my granddaughter has the same problem as you, she hates planes and whenever she is near or inside one she sweats until it had landed. So I’m used to recognize the symptoms”
April smiled a little uncomfortable but glad of the sweet nature of the old woman and she breathed once again when the flight attendants signaled that it was time to start gathering their personal objects.
“Well, then pass my gratitude to your granddaughter. And If I ever cross paths with you again I hope to be able to give you back this” Said as she pushed her glasses back onto their pace at the top of her nose as she touched her various pockets, verifying that she had everything inside of them.
“Then I hope to see you again dear, have a good time in Corsica!” Answered Mrs. Lucas cheerfully raising from her seat.
“Who knows…” Muttered April as she also stood up, feeling the nervousness that she had felt before her journey returning now that she was in the island. “I will make you proud, sister” Whispered to herself before exiting the plane.
Sasha Lamont hissed when a young couple walked in front of her and stepped on her right foot.
“Sorry” Said the woman who had provoked the accident, a blush already covering her pale cheeks but the Sahsa grimaced before answering that she didn’t need to worry.
“Have fun in Corsica” Said as she kept looking behind the couple’s head, trying to discern who was the woman that she had needed to pick up.
“Thank you” Answered the man, a tall blonde with kind eyes that signaled the exit to the woman “C’mon Mary”
Both of them disappeared in a few seconds as Sasha tried to found her new partner.
A few hours prior her boss, a prick if anybody wanted to ask Sasha, had told her that an American woman wanted to see closely the biodiversity of the island, especially Bastia’s. Apparently the woman was a very famous researcher and biologist so the political and bureaucracy papers had been done in lesser time that it had been planned and now it was imperative to found a partner to show the woman around.
Sasha wasn’t sure if it was because her boss was a chauvinistic pig, a prick or he simply didn’t want to help the woman but she had had less than two hours to arrive the airport with only a name as her whole information: April Woods.
The woman wasn’t in any social web as she had soon discovered when she had tried to found her in order to, at least, have a general idea of how the woman looked. She didn’t have any type of profile albeit she appeared mentioned in different places as an eminence in her field; biologist turned a biochemist.
But those little facts about her weren’t enough so she raised the sign in which she had written the name as she tried to discern who was traveling alone.
Finally, as she eyed a few women of her age that could be the infamous biochemist she heard a soft “Hello” at her back.
Turning, she came across a stunning brunette with deep-chocolate eyes framed by white glasses and a soft, albeit unsure, smile. The woman’s body was outlined by a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt that enhanced her golden skin.
“Hello, are you… Sasha Lamont?” The woman said with a big suitcase at her right as she fumbled with her purse. Her myopic eyes blinked behind her glasses before attempting another soft smile. “I saw the sign, sorry if you have been here for a while, they almost lost my suitcase and I needed to wait a little bit for it.”
“Oh” Muttered Sasha as she looked at the sign that was now lowered, the brunette's name still visible. “Don’t worry; I haven’t been here that long.”
“Excellent then” Replied April as she extended her right hand, carefully avoiding to touch the suitcase that looked a second away for falling. “I’m… well, you already know my name but you can call me April”
“April then” Replied the other woman as she grabbed the brunette’s hand and shook it. “You had a nice trip? You must be exhausted if you traveled all this way from America”
April, who had already grabbed her suitcase and was moving it with difficulty due to the obvious weight of the object, nodded once before attempting to smile as she tried to keep up with the long steps that Sasha gave.
“I first went to Paris, I landed there yesterday at… seven o’clock, then this morning I picked up this plane, but I still have a little bit of jet lag so…”
Sasha hummed as she tried to see where she had parked, her golden locks getting in her way for a second as she moved..When she finally saw her yellow truck she smiled and turned to point it out to the young brunette but the woman wasn’t there. Worriedly she looked around until she saw how April had stopped, trying to lift the suitcase from the ground. Cursing to herself the blonde approached the biochemist and smiled apologetically, offering her right hand to the brunette.
“Here, let me help you, sorry about this, I was too preoccupied trying to find my truck, this airport is very little and when the tourists come is always a living hell to find someone’s car.”
April nodded and thanked her in a soft, breathy voice that made Sasha blush for a second as they carried the suitcase together outside of the building. The brunette woman was truly a sight and she didn’t look like she knew it.
“Keep calm Lamont, only a coworker, remember that. And you don’t try anything with coworkers. Your rules.” The blonde thought as they approached the truck with the blazing sun blinding them a little.
“Have you worked a lot with different specialists in this field?” Asked April curiously as the finally put the suitcase at the back of the car.
Sasha chuckled and winked at April as they entered in the yellow truck pointing at her ID that hung from her neck with her other identification that signaled her as an ornithologist.
“I know that I don’t look the part so don’t need to worry, you are not the first person who have ask me that, but yes, I’m familiarized with your field although I don’t have a lot of information about what you actually want to do here. My boss was in a bit of a hurry this morning and he barely told me that you were coming”
April, who had blushed a little when the blonde had pointed up her credentials, frowned as she extracted a few papers from the back of her jeans.
“Mr. Briand told me that everything was already already set up. It is a problem for me to be here?”
Sasha shook her head as she tried to explain April how much of an idiot was her boss without actually saying that, the woman seemed nice but she didn’t want to tell her a lot of information, Mr. Briand had a fame of his own about how he could make anyone talk. And she needed the job even if she despised the old man.
“Briand… is a handful, is a very special man as well as difficult, you don't need to worry, he always fulfills his part of the deal.”
The brunette nodded and bit her lower lip, looking at Sasha from the corner of her eyes.
“I’m sorry that I jumped into conclusions about you” Said finally, directing her eyes at the window, the sun and the different shades of green creating a beautiful sight.
“Everything is forgotten” Answered the blonde good- naturedly. “So, what do you want to see here in Corsica? You wanted to keep you area of investigation near Bastia, didn’t you?”
April eyed the blonde, the sight momentarily forgotten, the woman’s green eyes shone softly as she kept driving carefully, the pupil almost as green as the trees that surrounded them.
The brunette chastised herself silently for thinking that before blinking; trying to remember what Sasha had questioned her about.
Ah, her intentions.
“Yes” She started, thinking briefly in her sister and gulping down a sudden knot in her throat. “I want to see a little about the flora and fauna of Bastia, I know that there is a natural park in the middle of the island but I wanted to investigate a little the littoral of Corsica. Especially different birds and their behaviors, that’s why I contacted with your boss”
“Yes, Briand is one of the richest men in this place as well as one of the most intelligent man around here; he had always helped with the biodiversity of the island. Some of the locals say it’s because he had been here since the island was created.” Added the blonde laughing a little before stopping abruptly and blushing. “Sorry, that was inappropriate”
April shook her head and smiled, mesmerized of Sasha’s laugh.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him”
Both of them kept quiet for a few minutes but as Sasha made the car turn in another intersection April talked again, her voice laced with curiosity as she tried to not appear interested, her golden-colored skin tinting a little as she blushed.
"You said earlier something about the locals, how long have you been living in Corsica?”
The blonde hummed as she pondered the question, she had been in the island since her 18 birthday so that meant that…
“I have been here since I was 18, so ten years. I came here in sort of a secret mission but I ended wanting to stay so… here we are”
The car turned again, the trees being replaced by the first traces of civilization, little houses scattered here and there as Bastia’s deck shone in the distance, the sparkling Mediterranean sea visible to April’s eyes who smiled happily, the beauty of the sight making her forgot about her current conversation with the blonde, who chuckled softly, remembering the first time that she had seen Bastia.
She had been a child trying to find her family and the map had slipped through her fingers as Bastia became visible in the distance. Even now, after all those years, the city circled with the trees and framed with the sparkling sea was a magical vision.
“I know” She told to the other woman who was still looking at the city. “The views are amazing, that’s the main reason because the Greeks named this place…”
“Kallisté” Finished April with a proud smile, her white glasses sliding of her nose. “And they were right, this island is incredible.”
Sasha nodded once and was startled by April’s next question, the hands of the brunette playing with a little penchant that glimmered, catching the sun that shone above the tall trees.
“ I must say that I'm glad you are not one of the natives, the only french I know is the one I was taught in the school" Addmited April and Sasha laughed softly at that, winking at her once again before she could stop herself.
"Don't worry, at first I also had problems but I picked it up quickly so if you ever need to say something in french you already know who you can call"
As soon as those words were out of her mouth she blushed and turned her eyes back to the road, trying not to see the blush that also decorated April's face.
"Damn it, what I said? Not flirting Lamont!" Thought with dismay as she tigthened her grip on the steering wheel.
After a few minutes in awkard silence April talked again, her voice as soft as ever.
"You said something about a secret mission, what kind of secret mission? Were you a spy or something?”
The blonde looked at April briefly before looking again at the road, a little teasing smile present in the brunette’s face as she waited for Sasha’s answer.
“You could say that… here we are” Said as she signaled the antique building at the entrance of Bastia. “I’m going to talk with Mr. Briand and ask him about where you are going to stay. Want to come?”
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